In an effort to set up a context for this review, I’ll admit
– I made a mistake. Instead of watching the two films in the Killer Dames
double feature box set in chronological order, I started with The Red Queen Kills Seven Times mostly
due to its kickass title. I had little knowledge of either film prior to
watching them, perhaps knowing that they were cult favorites for some of my
giallo loving cohorts, and I was pleasantly surprised with the The Red Queen’s blend of gothic elements
and giallo structures. Going into the previous film The Night Evelyn Came Out of
the Grave (which will be referred to as Evelyn from this point on) of similar style from director
Miraglia, I had
high hopes for another round of gothic giallo fun. However, The Red Queen was most definitely a more
refined approach to this style. Evelyn
is certainly a ballsy film at times, willing to sacrifice logic or narrative
flow for the sake of a few shocks and revelations, but it sacrifices too much
and it ends up feeling half cooked despite some strong visual elements and exciting concepts.

Alan (Steffan) is the Lord of a wealthy estate, but when his
wife Evelyn passed away it drove him to the brink of insanity – enough so that
he punishes any red headed woman he sees. However, he’s back on track with his
life. His castle is newly restored, his family supports him, and he has
recently married a wonderful young woman (Malfatti) to move on with his life. It’s
too bad that his dead ex-wife seems to have other ideas…and the body count has
only started.

Chance meeting...or a predator looking for prey?

There are a lot of solid foundations at play during Evelyn that director Miraglia would
refine in his next film. The mystery that presents itself in the second half as
the newlywed couple settles into their castle home is intriguing when all of the
pieces of the film start to maneuver into position. There are a lot of visually
and fascinatingly well shot moments by the director (including a trick funeral
procession that randomly ends up being…not a funeral procession to avoid
spoilers for a fun scene) and the final act is a robust series of wickedly
fast plot twists that are certain to leave the viewer’s head spinning. As a
murder mystery, it hits all the necessary components in this manner.
Questionable morals in a secondary cast, a twisting plot, and plenty of gray
area for the universe to settle into. Evelyn
is even full of a lot of very interesting set pieces that inject the gothic
elements into the giallo style structure and narrative. The opening “torture”
scenes, a great sequence where the new young wife visits Evelyn’s tomb, and a
ghostly séance give the film ample opportunity to inject some great atmospheric
gothic elements into the film. Director Miraglia runs with this at times,
balancing the chic look of 70s giallo with gothic tones to create a lot of
interesting visual dynamics.

The Killer Dames box set from Arrow Video.

This all sounds fine and dandy, but the problem that arises
then with Evelyn is that despite so
many great giallo elements and gothic set pieces, the film rarely feels
cohesive and the narrative flow is a mine field for a viewer’s sense of logic. The
film starts off by portraying one of our main protagonists as a serial killer
out to torture and kill as many red heads as possible (which is a subplot that is essentially
abandoned in the latter two acts), it adds in some off the path subplots concerning
family members that are not fully explored, and there is even an off balance
sense of timing for everything as it blurs together in spastic bursts of plot
or narrative shifts. We are not even introduced to the actual supernatural concept
of Evelyn until well into the second half of the film and it seems almost like it’s
a bit too late for the idea to be fleshed out in the way it’s intended.
Granted, a lot of these can…sort of…be explained by the series of twists
presented in the final minutes of the film, but even then it leaves a series of
questions and plot holes large enough for a viewer to lose themselves in.
Giallo films are always meant to keep an audience off balance, but here it just
doesn’t quite work in the film’s favor.

It's not a true giallo without one eye ball shot.

There is some charm and a lot of intriguing ideas at play in
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave,
but ultimately the film falls short of making it work. As it was mentioned previous,
Miraglia balances the gothic pieces and the giallo form in a much more
effective manner in The Red Queen Kills
Seven Times, but even then that film feels a bit raw on the surface. Evelyn is just a rougher version of a
lot of the same ideas, just with a different plot. This latest Blu Ray release
from Arrow Video is packed full of fantastic information for those looking for
it about these various things, including a wonderful little visual essay from the
walking cult film encyclopedia Stephen Thrower and some amazing articles in the
booklet that comes in the box set. Even though I felt Evelyn was a patchy film as a whole, Arrow knocks it out of the
park with this release so any fans of giallo or Italian cinema are going to
want to dig into this limited release immediately. It’s worth it for all of the
great features around the film, even if Evelyn falls short.

ARROW VIDEO FEATURES:

KILLER DAMES:

Limited Edition box set (3000 copies) containing The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

Brand new 2K restorations of the films from the original camera negatives

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Here at Blood Brothers we, cult fan brothers Eric and Matt, are dedicated to bringing reviews to some of the worlds best (and worst, depending on your taste) cult like films from around this large globe. Whether it be Horror, Science Fiction, Kung Fu, or any other cult like genre - we are your first and last stop for all your review needs. Unapologetically kvlt.

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